Author: Finance for Sight

GENEVA: Medical aid agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Wednesday said Israel’s military operations and blockage of humanitarian aid had turned Gaza into a graveyard for Palestinians and those helping them. Israel, fighting in Gaza since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks, resumed operations in the Palestinian territory in March after the collapse of a two-month-old ceasefire amid differences over the next phase. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced, with Israel blocking humanitarian aid since March 2, before the truce disintegrated. Medical supplies, fuel, water and other essentials are in short supply, the UN says. “Gaza has been…

LONDON: The UK led international calls Tuesday for a swift end to the devastating war in Sudan, hosting a gathering of world officials with fresh pledges of humanitarian aid as the conflict which has cost thousands of lives entered its third year. The war erupted on April 15, 2023 in a bitter power struggle between rival generals leading Sudan’s regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) — neither of whom were present at the conference. More than 13 million people have been uprooted and tens of thousands killed, with both sides accused of committing atrocities. It has created…

WASHINGTON: Iran must completely halt its uranium enrichment as part of any nuclear deal, US envoy Steve Witkoff said Tuesday, after suggesting it could continue doing so at a low level. “Any final arrangement must set a framework for peace, stability, and prosperity in the Middle East – meaning that Iran must stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment and weaponization program,” Witkoff said on X. The previous day, he appeared to stop short of calling for a complete dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program, saying in a Fox News interview that “this is going to be much about verification on the…

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump believes it is up to China, not the United States, to come to the negotiating table on trade, the White House said Tuesday as tensions escalate between the world’s two biggest economies. “The ball is in China’s court. China needs to make a deal with us. We don’t have to make a deal with them,” said a statement from Trump read out by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt at a briefing. “There’s no difference between China and any other country except they are much larger,” she added. Trump’s new tariffs take effect, with 104% on Chinese goods…

WASHINGTON: The US State Department is expected to propose an unprecedented scaling back of Washington’s diplomatic reach, multiple news outlets reported Tuesday, shuttering programs and embassies worldwide to slash the budget by almost 50 percent. The proposals, contained in an internal departmental memo said to be under serious discussion by senior officials, would eliminate almost all funding for international organizations such as the United Nations and NATO. Financial support for international peacekeeping would be curtailed, along with funding for educational and cultural exchanges like the Fulbright Program, one of the most prestigious US scholarships. The plan comes with President Donald…

NEW YORK: Opening statements are set to begin on Tuesday in the retrial of Sarah Palin’s lawsuit accusing the New York Times of defaming the former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate in a 2017 editorial about gun control. Palin, 61, who was unsuccessful in her 2008 bid for the second-highest US office along with running mate John McCain, lost her first trial against the Times and former editorial page editor James Bennet in 2022. But the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan last August decided that the verdict was tainted by several rulings by the presiding…

SYDNEY: U.S. controls on sensitive defence exports, relaxed for AUKUS partner Australia last year, still apply to submarines, creating hurdles to defence industry collaboration on U.S. Virginia-class sub production, officials and executives said. Whether the United States can overcome production delays to meet U.S. Navy targets is key to whether Australia can buy three Virginia-class nuclear powered submarines under AUKUS, Defence Minister Richard Marles said last month. Australia faces a 2025 deadline to pay $2 billion of the $3 billion it has pledged to improve the U.S. submarine industrial base. Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has been tasked by…

HANOI: China and Vietnam signed dozens of cooperation agreements Monday, strengthening ties between the communist-run countries after Chinese leader Xi Jinping warned that protectionism “leads nowhere” and that a trade war would have “no winners”. Xi is in Vietnam for the first leg of a Southeast Asia tour, as Beijing tries to present itself as a stable alternative to an erratic US President Donald Trump, who announced — and then mostly reversed — sweeping tariffs this month. The Chinese president was welcomed to Hanoi Monday with a 21-cannon salute, a guard of honour and rows of flag-waving children at the…

CAIRO: Mediator Egypt has presented a new Israeli proposal for a Gaza ceasefire to Hamas, Egyptian state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV said on Monday, but a senior Hamas official said at least two elements of the proposal were non-starters. Citing sources, Al Qahera said mediators awaited Hamas’ response. Hamas said in a statement later in the day that it was studying the proposal and that it will submit its response “as soon as possible”. The group reiterated its core demand that a ceasefire deal must end the war in Gaza and achieve a full Israeli pull-out from the strip. Earlier,…

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump resumed his attempts Monday to blame Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky for Russia’s invasion, falsely accusing him of responsibility for “millions” of deaths. Trump – who had a blazing public row in the Oval Office with Zelensky six weeks ago – said the Ukranian shared the blame with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the February 2022 invasion, and then-US president Joe Biden. The Republican told reporters that there were “millions of people dead because of three people.” “Let’s say Putin number one, but let’s say Biden, who had no idea what the hell he was…